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Controversial bill to be heard in city's library to accommodate crowd

By Anthony Hahn

Staff Writer

Posted:
03/05/2017 10:00:00 AM MST

Updated:
03/06/2017 10:43:26 AM MST

Gas burns off from an Ensign well north of Union Reservoir in this file photo. Lafayette's City Council will vote on a controversial anti-fracking bill Tuesday that aims to hobble oil and gas operations. (Matthew Jonas / Longmont Times-Call)

Crafted by East Boulder County United, the " Climate Bill of Rights and Protections" has brought with it a swarm of climate activists and fracking opponents who have rallied around the city's latest call for self-governance.

"We have been left with no alternative," said Councilwoman Merrily Mazza, who along with her son, Cliff Willmeng, has championed the proposal. "We gave up hope that the state and federal environmental agencies would protect us, or that the courts would put the rights of real people over the rights of the corporate person."

The vote was tabled last month as several council members were absent from the meeting.

The proposal has also brought with it the attention of fracking proponents, most notably Colorado's Oil and Gas Association (COGA), whose representatives have kept a quiet presence at some of the gatherings.

"While this measure is supposedly targeted at oil and gas," Dan Haley, president and chief executive officer of COGA, said in a statement, "it is going to affect anyone doing business in Lafayette. Any ordinance that ties the hands of our police officers and allows citizens to disrupt the operations of a business they simply don't like is of great concern to the entire business community."

The provision to legalize non-violent direct action protests — such acts can include sit-ins, strikes, workplace occupations or blockades — would target drilling activity and allow protestors unprecedented immunity from arrest or detainment.

Lafayette's city attorney David Williamson said earlier this year that most, if not all of the bill's language would most likely be "unenforceable" and in violation of the constitution and charter if passed.

"This ordinance is so extreme," Haley added, "even the city's own attorney says its illegal and unenforceable. City council should reject the measure and have a real conversation that allows us to address any issues they have in a meaningful way."

State or industry officials have yet to comment on what possible legal retaliation could look like if Lafayette approves the ordinance.

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